1836.] 



FAkMEtlS' REGISTER. 



167 



that is doomed to the broom, every morning of her 

 life, she seems in some son to be fuKilling the de- 

 cree, 'dust thou art, and to dust thou shall return." 

 Every ladv, of improved mind, sets a liigh value 

 on her library: how can she endure to have her 

 neatly bound volumes soiled with dust? But the 

 gilded cover, the elegant type, and the purest sen- 

 timent, are not secure liom the intruihM", and even 

 the family bible is not e.xempt from its all-defiling 

 approaches. Tiie waxed floor, the bright furni- 

 ture, the washed apparel,, are all in their turn as- 

 sailed by this enemy of neatness, so that it may 

 be considered as the most formiilable impediment 

 in the way of comtortable housekeepiiii;', and tlie 

 greatest pest of the well-bred lady. Now the saw 

 dust which I am recominoiuling, spreads an air of 



The Royal Institution, of which Von Thaer is 

 the director, and which occupies a considerable 

 portion of his extensive buiUUngs, has three Pro- 

 ll^ssors besides himself! One lor JVIathematics, 

 Chemistry^ and Geology; one f()r V^eterinary 

 knowledge; and a third lor Botany, and the use 

 of" thedinerent vegetable productions in the Ma- 

 teria Medica, as well as fur Kntoaiology. Be- 

 sides these, an experienced agriculturist is en- 

 gaged, whose office it is to point out to the pupils the 

 mode of" applying the sciences to the practical bu- 

 siness of husbandry. The course comnjences ia 

 Septendjer. During tlie winter months, the time 

 is occupieil in mathematics, and the first six books 

 of Euclid arc studied; and in the summer, the ge- 

 ometrical knowledge is practically applied to the 



neatness, purity, and brightness, through every j measurmeiit of land, tind)er, buildings, and other 

 department of the mansion house, dispels many | objpcts. Jl'he.first principles of clicmistry are un- 

 an angry look, promotes health, cherishes love — in 



short, it imparls new vigor to all the domestic vir 

 tues. 



I. R. 



A NEW MODE TO DESTROY CATERPILLARS. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



A Yankee friend, mentioned to me a mode he 

 had adopted of destroying caterpillars, that he 

 found effectual, which I thought might be new to 

 some of the readers of the Farmers' Register. It 

 is, to blow up the whole colony with a gun loaded 

 with a light charge of powder, choosing such 

 times as they are in their nests. lie says, it is 

 sport for the boys, who are willing to do the shoot- 

 ing, he finding the powder. The muzzle being 

 put close to the nest, not one escapes. 



W. 



From Jacob's Travels in Germany. 



AGRICULTURAL ESTABLISIIMENT AT MOEGE- 

 LIN, IN PRUSSIA, 



About twelve or thirteen. years ago, the King of 

 Prussia, who like his uncle, was always anxious 

 to extend and improve the agriculture of his do- 

 minions, invited Von Thaer, who resided near 

 Lunenburg, and whose celebrity was even then 

 great, to settle in his kingdom, to assist in difi'using 

 agricultural knowledge, and, by his management, 

 set an example to the other great landed proprie- 

 tors, which might stimulate them to adopt similar 

 improvements. His majesty also wished him to 

 conduct a seminary, in which the knowledge of 

 the sciences might be applied to husbandry, lor 

 the instruction of the young men of the first fam- 

 ilies. 



The estate of Moegelin was given to him to 

 improve and manage, as a pattern farm. It con- 

 sists of eighteen hundred Berlin morgens, or 

 about twelve hundred English acres. At that 



bided. By a good, but economical apparatus, va- 

 rious experiments are made, both on a large and 

 snrall scale. For the larger experiments, the 

 brew-house and still-house, with their respective; 

 fixtures, are lijund highly usefld. 



Much attention is paid to the analyzation of va- 

 rious soils; and the diilercnt kinds, with the rela- 

 tive quantity of their component parts, are ar- 

 ranged vvith great order and regularity. The 

 classification is made with neatness, by havino- 

 the specimens of" soil arranged in order, and dis- 

 tinguished by different colors. Thus, for instance, 

 if" lite basis of the soil be sand}', the glass has a 

 cover of yellow paper; if" the next predomina- 

 ting earth be ctdcareous the glass has a white 

 ticket on its side; if it be red clay^ it has a 

 red ticket; if blue claj', a brown one. Over these 

 tickets, others ot" a smaller size indicate, by their 

 color, the third greatest quantity ol" ihe particular 

 substance contained in the soil. This matter may 

 appear to many more ingenious than useful, and 

 savoring too much of the German habit of gene- 

 ralizing. The classification of Von Thaer is, how- 

 ever, as much adopted, and as commonly used on 

 the large estates of this country, where exact sta- 

 tistical accounts are kept, as the classification of 

 Linnaeus in natural history is throughout the civil- 

 ized world. 



There is a large botanical garden, arranged on 

 the system of the Swedish naturalist, kept in ex- 

 cellent order, with all the plants labelled, and the 

 Latin as well as the German names. An herba- 

 rium, with a good collection of dried plants, which 

 is constantly increasing, is open to the examina- 

 tion of the pupils, as well as skeletons of the dif- 

 ferent animals, and casts of their several partsj 

 which must be of great use in the veterinary pur- 

 suits. Models of agricultural implements, espe- 

 cially of ploughs, are preserved in a museum, 

 which is stored as well with such as are fiimiliar in 

 German}', as with those used in England or other 

 countries. I remarked the absence but of" two im- 

 plements used in this country, viz. the mole 



time the annual value was estimated at two thou 



sand rix-dollars,* but is now supposed to be worth i plough, and a new machine recently invented ff>r 



twelve thousand; but some part of" thai increased sowing small seeds. The first of these would 



value must arise f"rom the buildings that have been 

 since erected. The principal improvement, tjiat 

 of the soil, has arisen from the large flocks of 

 sheep, which in summer are folded on the land, 

 and in winter make abundant manure, in houses 

 constructed for their lodging. 



* A rix-dollar is a snmll fraction less than Ss. 



certainly be of little use in most parts of Germa- 

 ny; and the other is so new, that, excellent as it is, 

 its adoption is by no means general, even in Eng- 

 land. 



The various implements used on the farm are 

 all made by smiths, wheelers, and carpenters, re- 

 siding round the institution; the workshops are 

 open to the pupils; and they are encouraged, by at • 



